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@evelyn @steward-of-the-pen @ariella-newheart @julia @esjohnson I also wrote a poem fairly recently. I submitted it to Story Embers for publication, but, sadly, it was rejected. However, I know a way around that. Everyone, here’s a look at my pride and joy! *gestures to poem dramatically and falls on nose*

My Red Balloon

By Cassie Hartfinh

I once held a red balloon

Walked through a forest filled with light

Birdsong filled the leaves

Then faded as they all took flight

I didn’t know that soon

My balloon would fly into night

And those green, flimsy eaves

Would disappear from my sight

I chased my red balloon

But it sailed beyond my view

And the trunks of shelter round me

At once became far and few

I heard a haunting tune

Which sounded old, yet new

And I mourned the loss of my balloon

Which protected me—or, used to

A Shadow then trapped me within

Its claws of darkest space

I screamed, but none could hear

For we were alone in this place

I struggled against this sin

But it clung to suffocating embrace

It became my puppeteer

And I thought it my saving grace

Till my red balloon sailed once again

To my pleading, outstretched arms

I clung to its string for dear life

But the Shadow ‘round me, in swarms

Threatened to be my bane

And choked me with its harms

But the Shadow’s singing knife

Was no match for the balloon’s charms

With the Shadow’s haunting song

Fading with its dark

The forest soon returned

With the melody of a lark

And my red balloon, in a voice so strong

Gave me one last remark

It had never truly gone for long

Just been invisible in the dark

If I had need of its aid at all

When the Shadows held us apart

The red balloon would come at my call

And save me from my frail heart

We continued through the forest of light

My red balloon and me

There was ne’er again cause for fright

For my balloon had set my heart free